5-Alarm Fire Rips Through Apartment Near City College

NEW YORK CITY — A huge fire broke out in the top floor of an apartment building Monday afternoon just steps from City College, officials and tenants said.

The Hamilton Heights fire broke out at 520 West 139th St. about 3:45 p.m, said a Fire Department spokesman.

Sylvia Dominguez, whose family has lived in the building for 50 years, said that the a/c unit in one of the top floor apartments went on automatically, shut down suddenly and then flames started shooting out of it.

"We all ran out of the building. There was a big flame shooting out the window. The windows were popping. The a/c popped out of the window," Dominguez said.

DNAinfo.com is New York's leading hyper-local news source, covering New York City's neighborhoods. We deliver up-to-the-minute reports on entertainment, education, politics, crime, sports, and dining. Our award-winning journalists find the stories - big or small - that matter most to New Yorkers.